Two attorneys, Francisco Ugarte, staff attorney at SFILEN, and Sin Yen Ling, staff attorney at the Asian Law Caucus, form part of the San Francisco Rapid Response Network. They have offered to train interested attorneys to become part of the Network and help with providing initial representation and consultation to raid detainees in the event of an ICE Raid.

San Francisco’s Rapid Response Network responds to immigration raids where three or more people are detained at the same time. Once there has been a raid, detainees can be moved to another jurisdiction which cuts off communication with loved ones and undermines the ability for advocates to assist detainees.

Rapid response attorneys are needed to, among other things, establish initial representation, gather facts about the raid and advise raid victims of their rights. Once an attorney has asserted representation at the detention center, law enforcement and immigration authorities have a harder time transferring detainees to other jurisdictions. After an attorney as part of the Rapid Response Network has asserted representation, the client would be represented by Network attorneys for their full case or, depending on the Network’s capacity, referred to a pro bono attorney.

In order to join the Rapid Response Network, you will need to attend a two hour training which will be held on February 26th, 2009 from 7-9pm at the Rosenberg Foundation at 131 Steuart Street, Suite 650 in San Francisco.

After the training, you will be added to the list of attorneys who are called upon if there is another ICE or local law enforcement raid. Though we cannot predict how often this will occur (and frankly we hope it won’t at all) and therefore cannot predict how many volunteer hours you can expect, the more attorneys available, the less work for all involved.

Space is limited so, if you are interested in joining the Rapid Response Network, please send Claudia Peña an email at cpena@equaljusticesociety.org or call at (415) 398-3099.

MCLE credit is pending approval.

A Black man born in Hawai’i with an Asian sister was sworn into office Tuesday as our President. He took the oath of office on the same bible used by Abraham Lincoln for the exact same oath 148 years ago, realizing the dreams of countless African Americans and others who previously never imagined this moment.

President Barack Obama now leads our country into uncertain and troubled times. But he begins work on our nation’s ills with unprecedented numbers of Asian Americans in substantive roles in this Administration.

Japanese American Peter Rouse is White House Senior Adviser. Chinese American Chris Lu is Cabinet Secretary. Former Army Chief of Staff Eric Shinseki is Secretary of Veterans Affairs. Nobel prize winner Steven Chu is Secretary of Energy.

We now have a First Family that includes Asian Americans. The President’s sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, is half Indonesian. Her husband Konrad is Chinese American. Their daughter Suhaila is hapa.

This roster of Asian names is significant because the halls and backrooms of power in our nation’s capitol have for too long been dominated by monochromatic men. It does not mean we have arrived. It means we’ve only just begun.

For many of us, the most urgent unresolved Asian American and Pacific Islander issues are not always those that touch our everyday lives, but our desire to resolve those issues reflects our belief that an injustice anywhere is an injustice everywhere. We must reach outside of our individual realities to understand the plight and tragedy that prevents millions of Americans, Asian Pacific or not, from realizing their true potential.

Our government’s brutal treatment of undocumented immigrants is not just a Latino issue. When Sin Yen Ling and the Asian Law Caucus work to recruit more attorneys to represent victims of raids against immigrants in homes and workplaces and when Sophya Chum and Khmer Girls in Action fight against the unfair deportation of Cambodian youth, we see that immigrant rights is as much our battle.

Attempts to legalize discrimination against gays and lesbians through constitutional amendments to ban marriage are not just LGBT issues. When Amos Lim, Tawal Panyacosit, Jr. and Chinese for Affirmative Action work tirelessly in Asian American communities to replace biogtry with understanding and tolerance, we see that marriage equality must also be our goal.

An article titled “Why I Hate Blacks” – filled with blatant racism and ugly stereotypes published in a prominent Asian American newspaper was not just an African American issue. When David Chiu, now president of San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors, attorney Dale Minami and other Asian American leaders worked immediately to have AsianWeek apologize for the column and fire the writer and the editor responsible, we saw that the elimination of racism against Blacks and all people of color must be our dream.

All of these issues and more must be part of contemplating our renewed America with Barack Obama as our President. He cannot fight injustice alone. Let’s stand with him.